Ryan Reynolds is getting candid about his not-so-successful film The Green Lantern.

The 40-year-old actor explains why the 2011 film just didn’t work, but his hit superhero film Deadpool was a massive success this year.

“Well it’s simple: Deadpool always knew what it was,” Ryan told EW. “With Green Lantern, I don’t think anyone ever figured out exactly what it was. That isn’t to say the hundreds of men and women didn’t work their fingers to the bone to make it as good as possible.”

He continued, “It also fell victim to the process in Hollywood which is like poster first, release date second, script last. At the time, it was a huge opportunity for me so I was excited to try and take part in it. I did however write a letter to Fox right before I had to decide whether or not I was gonna do Green Lantern. I asked one last time sort of like the groom standing at the alter, ‘Will you please be my wife?’ and they said they couldn’t pull the trigger on Deadpool. For too many reasons too boring to illustrate, it just didn’t work.”